If the Lions beat the Steelers I predict a huge spike in suicides in the Steel City.
With the Jets winning and the Browns flailing, Eric Mangini looks worse every week. I’m very amused by that.
I’m not surprised the Saints burned the Bills, but it really makes me wish Buffalo had been able to hang on against New England. They’d be in much better position at 2-1.
Final Score: Jets 24 - Titans 17
Pretty much nailed this one. Really nice game for Sanchez and it’s time to abandon the “he’s a rookie, is he for real?” meme. The Titans special teams have been officially terrible for the last 3 games, it’s a serious issue.
Final Score: Jags 31 - Texans 24
I got this one wrong officially but I’m calling it a win. MJD did have that monster game and the Texans suffered for it. Still a little confused as to what’s going on with Slaton, his YPC was excellent yet Chris Brown was in the game at the end with an opportunity to tie and subsequently fumble.
Final Score: Eagles 34 - Chiefs 14
Well, no moral victories here. The consensus was right and the Chiefs suck unmitigatedly. Kolb had another huge passing day and you can probably start counting on him against all but the best defenses.
Final Score: Raves 34 - Browns 3
Cha-Ching. Should I feel silly about predicting 9 too many points for the Browns against the Ravens D? I guess I was just expecting them to stumble into a couple long FGs, that’s not absurd is it?
Final Score: Giants 24 - Bucs 0
Hmm, kinda screwed the pooch on this one. I’ll take that moneyline W but the Bucs are looking much worse than I expected. I think it’ll be safe to bet against them any time they face a remotely competent defense that can apply some pressure. The Giants rush attack was spotted finally.
Final Score: Lions 19 - Redskins 14
Very nice. I expected Megatron to get off a bit more this week but the Redskins D at least gave a decent effort and the lack of Redskins turnovers kept it close. Stafford is fun to watch, he has shades of Jay Cutler in him for better or worse. I know this is a important win for the franchise but it was a little embarrassing to see them celebrating in the owners box like they’d won the Super Bowl and Powerball all at once.
Final Score: Packers 36 - Rams 17
A solid effort from Steven Jackson got the Rams on the board and Kyle Boller played OK and could potentially provide a uptick from the Rams going forward. Still, this result was easy to predict. Explain to me how Greg Jennings can catch 2 balls for 50+ yards and not score on either of them? WTF?
Final Score: Vikings 27 - 49ers 24
So much for that Favre crapping the bed thing. Still, the Niners are for real and they covered the spread and frankly should have won outright. Feel good about that prediction on the whole, and I hope the Niners fans aren’t pissed about that whole Jinxing Frank Gore thing.
Also, why in the love of blue fuck were we in the Chicago market forced to watch the Eagles-Chiefs crapfest? We don’t get enough goddamned NFC East?!?! With the Bears playing an afternoon game we only got 1 game in the early slot and we get to watch a backup QB facing a awful AFC team, neither of which are local nor rivals in Chicago. You seriously telling me that the divisional games featuring the Packers and Rams, the two closest NFC teams geographically facing off and our primary rival, or the Niners and Vikings, with media darlings Favre and AP on a divisional rival in a matchup of undefeated NFC rivals one of whom happens to be coached by a Bears legend? We can’t get either of these game, we get an NFC East and AFC West matchup from the cellar? Fuck you NFL and CBS/Fox.
Final Score: Pats 26 - Falcons 10
It’s official, the Pats are going to be that team that I can’t predict all season long. Every year there’s one team that I can’t get a read on and this year it’s them. Feel free to confidently lay money against whatever I predict for them week-to-week.
The Bucs are the team that surprised me the most from that list. I’m not surprised they lost to the Giants but I really thought they were a better team. Is Jeff Faine injured? I thought I heard and that and if so it might explain a lot of the offense’s problems (not all of them of course). He really is a great center. I’m still pissed off the Steelers wasted their time signing Sean Mahan a few years back when Faine was also a FA. I know signing free agents isn’t their style but neither is not having a top notch center and the effects are showing.
I didn’t exert the same mental energy on the late games as the early, but my gut served me pretty well.
Final Score: Bears 25 - Seahawks 19
I’m going to do a more in depth discussion of the Bears game in the NFC North thread but you can rest assured I’m frustrated. I tend to forget what a good home field advantage the Seahawks have week-to-week, that was a factor here. The final score was pretty closely predicted but the Bears really didn’t dominate the way they should have with such a depleted opponent, especially on offense. Bad times, thank you Jay Cutler.
Final Score: Saints 27 - Bills 7
I was at a bar for all the late games and saw quite a bit of the action but for some reason this one evaded me, I don’t think I saw a single play of it. Glad to get the bet right but I have no idea why the offenses seemed to be so ineffective. Hope I can catch this game on NFLN this week.
Final Score: Chargers 23 - Dolphins 13
Had this one pegged. The Chargers offense is going to struggle if they keep putting such a heavy load on Sproles. It’s just too much with LDT on the bench. When he come’s back we’ll see if he can get anything going. Things go from bad to worse for the Phins with Pennington going down, but perhaps there’s a silver lining there since he was probably holding them back.
Final Score: Bengals 23 - Steelers 20
Heh, looking good Lewis! Palmer got his winning TD within seconds of Cutler getting his, it was an exciting few minutes in the bar. Sadly that TD from Palmer wasn’t enough to save my money league team. I’m getting killed by the Steelers running game, it’s not productive and I’m always picking the wrong weeks to swap Parker and Mendenhall in my flex spot.
Final Score: Broncos 23 - Raiders 3
Man, Orton continues to win ugly. He did it in Chicago and seemed bound and determined to do it in Denver. This Denver defense is a mystery to me. I just cannot believe that it will last, they were a complete joke last year. They didn’t replace EVERYONE. That said, I can’t say I’m surprised JaMarcus sucked donkey dork once again. Is he blind? Has anyone checked yet?
Final Score: Colts 31 - Cards 10
When in doubt indeed! I don’t feel too silly about this gaffe, the Cards gave away two early TDs with turnovers in the red zone (inside the 5 even) that would have completely altered the way this game played out. This game should have been 21-17 at half. Frenchy looked great for the Colts as did Dallas Clark. Seems like I might need to eat a little crow on predicting the slide of the Colts offense for fantasy purposes. It’ll be interesting to see if Gonzalez’s role is reduced when he comes back as a result of Garcon’s emergence.
Yes, Faine is injured. Sean Mahan started at center. Antonio Bryant is also nursing a semi-serious knee injury that probably should have kept him out of the game, and Cadillac Williams’ ankles are both sore from playing on turf for the first time (!) at Buffalo.
We were also missing Tanard Jackson, our best defensive player, thanks for a 4-game suspension, but frankly our secondary didn’t play any worse yesterday than they did in Weeks 1 and 2. Our offense did, of course.
Losing a guy like Faine affects the whole line when there is a big drop off to the next guy and I’ve seen Mahan at center often enough to know that there is. Then you’ve got a guy with the mobility of a fire hydrant behind them and the Giants D-line and the tricks they have up their sleeve. Yeah, that score makes a lot more sense to me now. I like the Bucs; I hope things get better for them.
Mahan’s not so bad. He started for the Bucs for most of three years before 2007, though mostly at guard.
He struggled a lot with Pgh but then again the division’s full of monstrous Nose Tackles and he didn’t have much for guards to help. I haven’t seen him playbwith TB yet since he went back.
Yeah, only 4-3 defenses down here, though there were some pretty good tackles (Rod Coleman, Kris Jenkins).
Well, we’re up against Pittsburgh next and then a bye week, so hopefully he doesn’t have to work too hard before LT comes back…
It’s official, Pennington is done for the year with a torn capsule, whatever that is. You have to wonder if this one will end his career. He wasn’t exactly in demand before this recent injury and his noodle arm has proven to be a consistent liability in Miami. Accuracy is great but you gotta get the ball downfield at least a little. Wonder if Chad Henne will end up being worth a crap, the 'Phins have a little bit of talent on offense.
ETA: While we’re at it, Leftwich gets dumped in favor of Johnson in Tampa. He slides all the way to 3rd on the depth chart. Wonder if this will be Johnson’s one chance to prove his worth before they start grooming Freeman.
I’m looking forward to tonight’s game. Dallas seems the likely victor, but I think it’ll be a good game. If the Panthers can establish the run and stick with it, they can stay in it. That’s counting on a few Romo turnovers, of course. 
Hopefully they’ve learned from last year, and won’t rush LT back.
One more injury update with comedy potential, Albert Haynesworth has a strained ass.
Following recent Coach-speak protocol, Zorn said in the press conference that Haynesworth was “out, with an ass.” *
- Not really
Don’t think I’m not typing “Albert Haynesworth, Questionable (Ass)” in next week’s NFL thread.
During Footbal Night in America Tony Dungy broke down the play and showed that the Niners didn’t drop their safeties back into the endzone, running their traditional pass defense instead. I find it hard to disagree, plus I’m one of those “live by the blitz, die by the blitz” kind of guys. What had me up in arms were those horrendously questionable 2 QTR calls that all but put up a touchdown on the board for the Vikings.
A local beat writer said there may be talk behind the scenes that Mangini may not make it through the season.
I’d be amazed, quite frankly. We gave 4 years to Crennel who was atrociously bad.
Millan is available.